KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.

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Friday, February 12, 2016

America at Risk

“The
battle we are in is a spiritual one, and we are to use spiritual weapons…The
call

that
every person who believes in God has at this time is to obey the Word of God,

rely
on the power of the Holy Spirit, and use the spiritual weapons God has given

us
such as prayer, repentance, worship, and evangelism…God knew all about it

long
ago and laid out the story from beginning to end in the Bible.”

Troy
Anderson and Paul McGuire, The Babylon Code, 2015

A
favorite story is about a professor who asked seminarians, “The Bible says we
are predestined yet free to choose.How
is that possible?”

Noticing
a student asleep, the professor walked over to him, slammed his hand on his
desk, and demanded, “What do you think?”

The
startled fellah blurted out, “Sorry, Sir, I knew yesterday; but I forgot.”

Whereupon
the professor lamented, “Such a pity.The only man who knew and he forgot.”

I’m reminded of a mentor who often said, “I’d like to
tell you everything I know; but I don’t have ten minutes.”

Like most clergy and other politicians, I used to pretend
more knowledge than I had; but, now, I admit I’m just scratching the surface of
my relationship with God as informed by Holy Scripture and enlightened by the
Holy Spirit.

Seriously, except for the unique place of Jesus as Lord
and Savior, there’s not too much that I know for certain; and whatever I claim
to know for certain, I will admit error if corrected by Jesus as the perfect
pattern for life and ministry, the Bible as containing the perfect
prescriptions for holiness, and common sense.

That’s an important preface because I think November 8,
2016 will be pivotal to the revival or continuing decline of America.

I wrote about that in a little thing called “November 8,
2016” back in January that appeared in The Belvidere Daily Republican, www.churchandworld.com, and www.koppdisclosure.com.We talked about it on www.bnnsradio.com.I looked at the candidates, the issues, and
made a prediction about who will succeed the incumbent.You can go to the archives of those sources
if you’re interested; noting you may want to save your time for more rewarding
pursuits because I have been wrong in predicting the last several elections.

While my comments on the candidates and prediction of who
will take the oath in January 2017 may be more indigested than inspired, I’m
stubbornly insistent about the issues: the economy, national security,
imperiled 1st and 2nd Amendments, and warning that
America better get back to God before its too late: “Return to Me and I will
restore you.If not, not.”

I expect the economy to turn around and Americans to come
to their senses about national security; but I’m very concerned about a dark
conspiracy determined to destroy America by increasingly distancing our nation
from God and emasculating the 1st and 2nd Amendments.

I see the emasculating of the amendments as symptomatic
of increasing national decline.

While I may be wrong, I believe preserving and promoting
the 1st and 2nd Amendments are integral to the fabric of
freedom in America and fidelity to Godliness as exemplified in Jesus, explained
in Holy Scripture, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

Because the amendments are at risk, America is at risk.

The amendments are at risk because Christians and other Godly
relatives in America are an increasingly decreasing minority.

The amendments are at risk because America’s values have
moved from theocentric to egocentric to darkly demonic enabled by the author of
lies; or as the Rolling Stones sang about it, “Confusing is my
game!Can you guess my name?”

Isaiah prophesied this day: “What sorrow for those who
say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark,
that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think
themselves so clever.”

America is at risk because - with increasing intensity
and frequency -it is removing God from courtroom, classroom, commerce, media,
government, entertainment, and even churches with the mantra, “We know that’s
what Jesus and the Bible say, but we think…”

The imperiled 1st and 2nd
Amendments are the obvious symptoms of an ill nation.

A little history.

Ratified on December 15, 1791, The Bill of Rights is the
collective name given to the first ten amendments to the United States
Constitution.

They were added to prevent tyranny over citizens by a
central government.

The first ten amendments or Bill of Rights were
established as integral to the fabric of freedom in America; and the first two
insure the preservation and promotion of the others.

The 1st Amendment is about freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, freedom from state-sponsored religion, freedom to
assemble, and freedom to disagree with government as long as those freedoms are
exercised peacefully and redemptively with no intention of inhibiting the
freedoms of others to the same.It’s a
kind of “live and let live” way of doing things; expressing beliefs and
opinions without demanding everyone conform to them.Knowing the temptation to power and control
over citizens by civil and ecclesiastical governments, the 1st
Amendment prohibits “my way or the highway” tyrannies.Again, the 1st Amendment allows
for a big umbrella of beliefs and opinions while not granting authority to
anyone to impose their beliefs and opinions over everyone at the expense of
anyone’s entitlement to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The 2nd Amendment protects the right to own
firearms for personal, family, and corporate protection from miscreants who
would use lethal force to deny the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights
for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These
rights to individual freedom from state tyranny are under assault like never
before by a dark conspiracy dedicated to destroying America by destroying its
Godly heritage; and as bikers and women and men of faith who still believe
in Jesus by the book like to say, “If I have to explain that to you, you
wouldn’t understand anyway.”

Yet let
me try clearly, concisely, and, I pray, convincingly.

History
is polluted by evil people who have often succeeded in denying the freedoms
guaranteed for Americans in the 1st and 2nd Amendments to
our Constitution such as Pharaoh, countless Godless empires, Hitler and the
Nazis, Stalinists, Soviets, Maoists, Islamofascistnutballs, and the like;
recalling how every evil tyrant and government limited/eliminated freedoms like
ours in the Bill of Rights to seize control and enslave.

Make no
mistake about it!

Anyone
advocating the abolition of the 1st and 2nd Amendments to
the Constitution of the United States is a potential tyrant who knows limiting
speech and disarming citizenry are the first steps to seizing control that will
enable enslavement and the end of our constitutional and representative
democracy in which authority rests not in individuals but in ordered groups for
an inclusive entitlement to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Knowing
our Godly relatives in America share this critical concern, I speak as a
Christian because I believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior according to the book.

Christians
want freedom of speech and press to spread the good news that God wants
everyone to be free to love Him by loving like Him with grace, mercy,
forgiveness, and agape; praying and laboring for the highest good for
everyone no matter who, what, where, or when without the need or expectation
for response, regard, or reward.

Christians
want freedom to warn governments that safety, security, health, and welfare are
inextricably woven into the fabric of faith; or as Samuel declared, “God honors
those who honor Him.”

Christians
want freedom to arm themselves against everyone who would use force to take
away anyone’s freedom for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Christians
want freedom to arm themselves against demonic oppression and possession with
the echo of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a gentle and scholarly Lutheran pastor and
professor who conspired to assassinate Hitler for reasons obvious to everyone
except those who missed the courses on original sin and spiritual warfare,
explaining why Christians must use force as required for Christocentric peacemaking:
“It is not only my responsibility to care for the victims of a madman who has
gotten behind the wheel of a motorcar; but to do all in my power to remove him
from the wheel of a motorcar.”

Christians
know undershepherding includes picking up the rod and staff to protect,
guide, and comfort.Yes, Jesus gave up
His life voluntarily for others.He was
sacrificial.And, yes, He
exorcised the demonic and used His armament as the Son of God to drown them
before they devoured and destroyed.

Christians
know they are called to bandage the wounded and pick up their rods,
staffs, and armament to prevent people from being wounded by accomplices of the
evil one.

Christians
know they need freedoms guaranteed in the 1st and 2nd
Amendments because this is a fallen world with many dangers because of the
oppressed and possessed of Satanos who are dedicated to destroying souls
along with everything and everyone in the process.

Christians
would like to tip-toe through the tulips while singing with Ray Stevens,
“Everything is beautiful in its own way…”Sadly, everything is not beautiful in our world; and as Luther warned,
“This world is filled with devils who threaten to undo us.They are armed with cruel hate.”

Christians
would like to pretend there is no evil encouraged and enabled by the evil one
lurking to ravage and rape and steal and kill.

Christians,
instead, follow Jesus who said, “There are wolves out there.They are ready to pounce and pound and
plunder and pummel and maul and murder.You must protect the children.You must protect the

defenseless.You, like Me, must give your lives for
them.So be wise as serpents.There are predators in this world.Be tough-minded.Be gentle as doves.There are people who are praying and trying
to love each other like I have loved them.Be gentle as appropriate.Be
tough as necessary.”

O.K., there are restrictions to the 1st and 2nd
Amendments.

In a packed movie theater, we can’t yell, “Fire!”

We can’t exercise our freedom of expression to endanger
anyone’s constitutional right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

We don’t give firearms to people who shouldn’t have them
– like criminals, Islamofascistnutballs, and those who are known not to be able
to handle them with caution, care, and competence.

Duh!

There are exceptions to the rules; and exceptions to
the rules are called exceptions to the rules because they occur so
infrequently that they remain exceptions to the rules not the rules.

Be very, very, very wary of anyone trying to extrapolate
exceptions to these rules – constitutional rights of Americans – into rules
that limit/eliminate the Bill of Rights.

7 comments:

Dan
said...

Exceptionally well written. Back in the day, the "free speech" movement swept colleges. They wanted to voice an alternative to the prevailing worldview. Today these knuckleheads are suppressing speech with shaming and rudeness to enforce their worldview. Today I would be branded a radical for my defense of the 1st Amendment!

One has to strain very hard to make an argument that the US is found anywhere in eschatological prophecy.

I'm not saying 1. that we are there (near the end) although we might be 2. That we are not obligated to be salt & light or to occupy 'till he comes

I am not sure even if my guy Ted Cruz gets elected that it would stop the decline. The Church and God have been replaced by the Government. Free Markets fail to work where people don't act Biblically Moral (paraphrase of Adam Smith the inventor of the concept). When the Government is the giver of all good gifts and the taker of all wealth people will simply stop generating wealth and will take the gifts (because they have no Biblical morality telling them that it is wrong). The Church willingly surrendered its authority in the area of social welfare by turning that duty over in large part to the Government. Once this reaches the tipping point (we may have already crossed that Rubicon) things go into the eventual death spiral of decline. Only the Holy Spirit can make the real difference changing hearts minds and lives. If America's people will be good then our nation will be good. (Turn on Alexis De Toqueville). The election of a President like Cruz would only be evidence that there are enough hearts and minds left that understand this and care. Even Bernie understands this it is not the man/woman who gets elected but the strength and will of the people that elect them that can really change the system and structure.